Forbidden relationships in Judaism ( ) are intimate relationships which are forbidden by prohibitions in the Torah or rabbinical injunctions.
Some of these prohibitions—those listed in Leviticus 18, known as ()—are considered such a serious transgression of Jewish law that one must give up one's life, rather than transgress one of them. (This does not necessarily apply to a rape victim.Rama and other commentaries on Shulchan Aruch II:157:1) This is as opposed to most other prohibitions, in which one is generally required to transgress the commandment when a life is on the line.
Some of these prohibitions (such as those related to homosexuality), while still observed by Orthodox Jews, are currently observed to a lesser extent or not at all by some of the non-Orthodox movements.
Adultery
Adultery is prohibited by the seventh of the Ten Commandments () which simply says: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
It is forbidden for a man to have sexual relations with a married woman not his wife. (, )
According to Jeffrey H. Tigay in Encyclopedia Judaica (2007), "ADULTERY (Heb. נִאוּף, ni'uf; sometimes, loosely, זְנוּת, zenut; זְנוּנִים, zenunim; lit. "fornication, whoredom"). Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married woman, or one engaged by payment of the brideprice, and a man other than her husband." Tigay stated the same idea in the Jewish Study Bible (2014).
Michael Coogan says that in the Hebrew Bible, there is no prohibition of premarital or extramarital sex for men, except for adultery, i.e. having sex with the wife of another man.5 Questions with Professor Michael D. Coogan The Summit, . New URL: http://admin2.collegepublisher.com/se/the-summit/opinion/5-questions-with-professor-michael-d-coogan-1.1716380 . Quote: "In ancient Israel, premarital sex by a woman was discouraged because in the patriarchal society of that time, a daughter was her father's property. If she was not a virgin her value--the bride price her father would get from a prospective husband--was diminished. Also, any child born to an unmarried woman would be fatherless--the Biblical term is "orphan"-- and so without either a male protector or any possibility of an inheritance, which was passed from father to son. There is no explicit prohibition in the Old Testament of premarital or extramarital sex by men except for adultery, which meant having sex with another man's wife." A man's sexual history was never an issue (thus no such thing as a virginity requirement for men); there was no ban on men having sex with unmarried women (including prostitutes).
Danya Ruttenberg in The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Ethics and Morality agrees with Tigay and Coogan. She states that although considered undesirable, the Jewish religious authorities admitted the reality of premarital sexual relationships, and were somewhat ambivalent about such relationships. Sara N.S. Meirowitz agrees will Ruttenberg, Tigay and Coogan.
Howard Tzvi Adelman recognizes there was a double standard in judging fornication in the works of Medieval rabbis: an unmarried woman who engaged in premarital sexual relationships was guilty of fornication, but an unmarried man was not.
According to the Queer Bible Commentary (2015), the Hebrew Bible does not say that lesbianism would amount to zenut/adultery. Statements by other scholars make such claim plausible.
Niddah
A man is not allowed to have sexual relations with a woman—including his wife—during and shortly after her menstrual period (), until after she immerses in a mikveh. A woman who has experienced her menstrual period and has not gone to a proper mikveh is referred to as a niddah.
Religious intermarriage
Religious intermarriage is forbidden in Orthodox and Conservative Judaism. There are differing opinions among the rabbis as to when the prohibition on sexual relations with non-Jews is from the Torah, and when it is rabbinic.Shulchan Aruch, III:16:1–2 and commentaries
Incest
Biblical prohibitions
Sexual relations with certain close relatives are forbidden in the Hebrew Bible. Though they are generally called incestuous relations, the biblical list does not necessarily correspond to those prohibited under state laws. In the Hebrew Bible, sexual relationships between siblings are forbidden to Jews but permissible to Gentiles (non-Jews).
The relationships forbidden by Leviticus 18 are:
One's genetic relative () One's mother () One's father () One's stepmother () One's paternal or maternal sister () One's paternal sister through one's father's wife () One's daughter (inferred from . Talmud Gittin 83a also implies that the prohibition on marrying one's daughter is a matter of Torah law ) One's granddaughter () A woman and her daughter () A woman and her granddaughter () One's aunt by blood () One's father's brother (uncle) () One's father's brother's wife (aunt) () One's daughter-in-law () One's brother's wife (sister-in-law) (), with the exception of Yibum One's wife's sister (sister-in-law) during one's wife's lifetime, even if since divorced ()
Rabbinically prohibited relationships In addition to the relationships biblically prohibited to Jews, rabbis have gone further to prohibit additional relationships with various blood relatives or in-laws. These are called "Shni'ot" (secondary prohibitions or seconds). Some of these are: One's grandmother One's brother One's great-grandmother One's grandfather's wife One's great-grandfather's wife One's grandson's wife
Adopted children who are raised together are not permitted to marry because of appearances, even if they are not biologically related.
Exclusions from the assembly
The Bible excludes certain categories of people from taking part in the qahal (assembly) of HaShem. Jewish tradition considers this to be solely a limitation on marriage.
Biblical peoples
A Jew is prohibited from marrying a male Moabite and Ammonite convert (); or an Egyptian or Edomite convert up to the third generation from conversion ().
Nethinim/Gibeonites are prohibited by rabbinic injunction.Yevamot 8:2
As the people currently living in those areas may not be descended from the original peoples, these prohibitions may not apply today.Mishnah Yadayim 4:4; Rabbi Joseph Karo, Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer 4:10 and commentaries
Mamzer
A mamzer in Jewish law is a child resulting from an incestuous liaison or an adulterous liaison by a married woman. (This is not necessarily the same definition as a bastard by other societies, as it does not include a child of an unmarried woman.) As a mamzer is excluded from the assembly (), the Talmud forbids a marriage by an ordinary Jew to a mamzer.Yebamot, 4:13 However, a mamzer may marry a convert or another mamzer, though their child would also be considered a mamzer.Maimonidies, Mishneh Torah, Sanctity, Laws of Sexual Prohibitions, 15:7–8
Certain eunuchs
Jewish tradition also forbids marriage to a man who has been forcibly emasculated; the Greek term spadon (; Latin: spado) which is used to refer to such people, is used in the Septuagint to denote certain foreign political officials (resembling the meaning of eunuch). The Jewish prohibition does not include men who were born without visible testicles (conditions including cryptorchidism), or without a visible penis (intersex conditions can affect genital appearance). There is dispute, even in traditional Judaism, about whether this prohibited group of men should include those who have become, at some point since their birth, emasculated as the result of a disease.Jacob ben Asher, Eben ha-'Ezer, 5
Special rules for priests Israelite priests (kohanim) are not allowed to marry:
divorcees converts a woman who has had certain forbidden sexual relationships (such as the zonah in the Torah) () a woman who was born of the prohibited relations of a kohen (called a chalalah) () women captured during warfareKetubot 22a; Ketubot 27a a widow whose brother-in-law refused to perform a levirate marriage, and she consequently performs the Halitzah ceremonyYebamot 24a
Some of these prohibitions are biblical, and some are rabbinical.
The Kohen Gadol (high priest) must also not marry a widow (). He is required to marry a virgin maiden (). However, if he was married to a woman otherwise permitted to a kohen, and was then elevated to the high priesthood, he may remain married to her.
Homosexual acts
Orthodox view
Orthodox Judaism interprets () as forbidding homosexual acts between two men, and calls it an abomination. ( specifically prohibits such relationships with one's father or uncle.)
There is no punishment prescribed in the Torah for sex acts between two women (lesbianism), but rabbinic law has prohibited it as an extension of the "activities of (ancient) Egypt" (see ).Rabbi Joseph Karo, Shulchan Aruch, Even Ha-'Ezer 20:2 Although the practice is not considered adultery in the formal sense, the Talmud (Yevamot 76a), in the name of Rav Huna, suggests that women engaged in such practices are forbidden to marry a priest of Aaron's lineage. Others posit that such relationships do not prohibit the woman unto a kohen, since it is merely an act of lewdness.Beit Sh'muel, Shulchan Aruch (Even Ha-'Ezer 20:12, based on Maimonides) However, such practices are still censured and are said to be an infringement of the prohibition, "You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt" (Leviticus 18:3).Maimonides, Mishne Torah (Hil. Isurei Bi'ah 21:8)
Conservative view
Conservative Judaism's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards has validated different approaches to homosexual acts, with one opinion being like the Orthodox position in many respects, and another opinion permitting many forms of homosexual sex, while continuing to regard anal intercourse between men as prohibited.
According to Conservative rabbi and Bible scholar Jacob Milgrom, the Torah prohibits men lying with men in illicit ways, that are incestuous or adulterous, but otherwise homosexual relations are allowed."Since illicit carnal relations are implied by the term miškĕbê ʾiššâ, it may be plausibly suggested that homosexuality is herewith forbidden for only the equivalent degree of forbidden heterosexual relations, namely, those enumerated in the preceding verses (D. Stewart). However, sexual liaisons occurring with males outside these relations would not be forbidden. And since the same term miškĕbê ʾiššâ is used in the list containing sanctions (20:13), it would mean that sexual liaisons with males, falling outside the control of the paterfamilias, would be neither condemnable nor punishable. Thus miskĕbê ʾiššâ, referring to illicit male—female relations, is applied to illicit male—male relations, and the literal meaning of our verse is: do not have sex with a male with whose widow sex is forbidden. In effect, this means that the homosexual prohibition applies to Ego with father, son, and brother (subsumed in v. 6) and to grandfather—grandson, uncle—nephew, and stepfather—stepson, but not to any other male." - Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 17-22: A New Translation With Introduction and Commentary, Anchor Yale Bible vol. 3, Yale University Press, 2007, page 1569
In 2012, the American branch of Conservative Judaism represented by the Rabbinical Assembly devised a commitment ceremony for same-sex couples, though not defined as kiddushin. In 2014, the British group Masorti Judaism said it would support shutafut ceremonies for same-sex unions. In 2016, the Rabbinical Assembly passed a resolution supporting transgender rights.
Humanistic Judaism In 2004, the Society for Humanistic Judaism issued a resolution supporting "the legal recognition of marriage and divorce between adults of the same sex", and affirming "the value of marriage between any two committed adults with the sense of obligations, responsibilities, and consequences thereof".
Reform view